1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell catalyst material, fuel cell electrode, membrane-electrode assembly, fuel cell, fuel cell catalyst material manufacturing method, and fuel cell electrode manufacturing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel cell electrochemically oxidizes fuel such as hydrogen or methanol in the cell, thereby directly converting the chemical energy of the fuel into electrical energy and extracting this electrical energy. Since neither NOx nor SOx is produced by combustion of fuel, unlike a thermal power station, a fuel cell has attracted attention as a clean electrical energy supply source. In particular, a polymer electrolyte fuel cell can be made smaller and lighter than other fuel cells and hence has been developed as a spacecraft power supply. Recently, polymer electrolyte fuel cells are also extensively studied as power supplies for automobiles and mobile apparatuses. However, these conventional fuel cells have not been widely used yet because the performance deteriorates at temperatures lower than 100° C.
The cell reaction of a fuel cell is a redox reaction occurring between an anode electrode and cathode electrode. Although various efforts have been made so far, e.g., a catalyst material is alloyed (particularly a transition metal is substituted), and the activity is improved by changing a conductive carrier, no catalyst material having sufficiently high activity and chemical stability has been found yet. So, Pt—Ru and Pt are still most often used as an anode catalyst material and cathode catalyst material, respectively. To further improve the performance of fuel cells, it is necessary to develop a highly active and highly stable catalyst which smoothly causes a redox reaction.